Interview with State Congress Candidate James Marter

Recently, I was able to get a number of interview questions through to Jim Marter, a Republican currently running for the position in Illinois’ State Congress. This was a great chance to get Jim’s political views on a range of issues.

John: Thanks Jim for taking some time out to consider some questions for the American Watchmen. Let’s begin with how you got to where you are now. How exactly did you get into politics?

Jim: In 1992, I ran for School Board in Midland Michigan. My wife and I had two young sons at the time, and I wanted to be able to impact what I saw as an educational system going beyond its mission.

Learned a lot, but was not elected. Over twenty years later, after all four of our children were almost completely out of school, I became involved in a local election for village trustee, an election I never intended to get into. This was late in the year 2014. That prompted me to join the Republican party as a Precinct Committeeman. For the 2016 election cycle, armed with some knowledge of the election process, canvassing, and grassroots activists, I decided something needed to be done about Incumbent RINO Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois.

It was clear to me the Illinois Republican Party didn’t want anyone challenging him, in spite of his horrendous record and turning his back on our party and platform. I ended up earning 388,571 in the Republican Primary in the 5th largest state of the union, spending less than 12 cents per vote. On the same day I lost to Senator Kirk, I was elected a Precinct Committeeman and 30 days later was unanimously elected the Republican Party Chairman for the Kendall County Republican Central Committee.

John: What makes you proud to be an American?

Jim: Freedom and our Constitution. We are truly blessed by our Creator to have a country based on these values: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” It is our Constitution and Bills of Rights that protect our freedoms.

John: What is your greatest fear in relation to the government for your own family and for the typical American family?

Jim: That those who don’t respect our Constitution and our values are undermining the very foundations of our country and indoctrinating our citizens with a false history and version of our Constitutional system of government.

John: Currently, there is quite a bit of controversy around the freedom of speech and all it encompasses. How would you define freedom of speech, and when does it go too far?

Jim: It is clear that the first amendment was intended first and foremost to protect political speech. There are really very few limitations except when slander, libel, or threats to other individuals, LIFE, liberty, or property is involved.

John: In late 2017, the Illinois Legislature founded Barack Obama Day which shall now land on August 4th every year. Will you be celebrating Barack Obama Day? Should we be celebrating his leaving the White House?

Jim: No. I will not be celebrating that day. Yes, I did celebrate his leaving the White House and was on the mall in Washington D.C. with my wife, sister-in-law and a million people celebrating the Inauguration of President Trump on Jan. 17th, 2017!

John: What are some of the best aspects President Trump has brought to the people of the United States?

Jim:

The re-birth of the slogan and ideal that we can and should MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.

The idea that our elected Representatives should put American First!

That we need to enforce our laws and stop the illegal immigration that is rampant in America.

That we need Supreme Court justices who understand the original intent of our founding fathers and the Constitution.

John: How would you like to see women’s rights improve?

Jim: In America, we have always celebrated human rights, we don’t distinguish the natural rights of all people based on race, religion, ethnicity or gender.

John: Specifically, how would you go about decreasing taxes?

Jim: Either a simple 10% flat tax or, in the event of the repeal of the 16th Amendment, a constitutional limited again <10% fair tax or consumption tax. It can’t be both; one or the other. In either case, it requires a new constitutional amendment to clarify and limit the power of Congress to raise the tax rate.

John: Among several historical individuals quoted on your website, one is Ronald Reagan, a conservative President. Reagan once said, “Work and family are the center of our lives, the foundation of our dignity as free people.” Do you agree with his rather concisely and elegantly put statement?

Jim: With Christ always and the focus and center of my faith and life, it makes me consider all things in the context of the individual human person and the dignity of the person. We need to be mindful always of our goal of the Lord’s Will and not our own.

John: What would you say is the most important virtue or view on life that your athletic activities have taught you?

Jim: Work ethic, hard work, teamwork: the need to put in long hours to practice and constantly improve and hone one’s skills.

John: Mark R. Levin has said, “I realized that conservatism was the philosophy that best suited me, with its emphasis on individual liberty, personal responsibility, and merit.” I know you’re a fan of much of Levin’s work. Could you decipher and define for the layman the conservative ideals he just expressed, particularly in regards to “individual liberty” and “personal responsibility”?

Jim: Well, it is individual liberty that makes our country unique amongst all others, not based on nationality but upon the ideas that the individual person is and ought to be free, and by God’s creation was created to be free. No one can truly be free without taking the personal responsibility to act in their own behalf while also respecting the freedom of all other individuals.

John: What do you think can be done to improve the integrity of the military as well as that of the government?

Jim: Probably the most difficult question. But it all gets back to the first clause in the first Amendment and that is protecting and allowing the protection of the religious liberty in the military and the government.

There is no protection or freedom from religion which is what the left has institutionalized primarily via activist, jurists, and out-of-control courts, redefining out of our Constitution the very Freedom of Religion we have protected. A restoration of that very first Amendment will go a long way towards improving integrity in all government institutions.